The National tribune., 1887-06-23
TO TIRE CONFEDERATE STATES"

war period could write such an astounding
letter as Mr. Cleveland did to the Secretary
Of War, suspending the return Of the flags.
What in the name Of all that is wonderful
could have induced President of the United
States to write such sentence as this:
] have today considered with more care than
when the subject orally presented TO me the
action Of your Department directing letters TO be
addressed 10 the Governors Of all the States, offer
ing 10 return. ifdesired. TO the LOYAL States the
UuioB flags captured during the war Of the rebel
lion by the Confederate forces and aterward re-
covered 10y Government troops; and 10 THE
CONFEDERATE STATES the Gags captured by
the Union forces all OF which. etc.
This is the first official intimatiOn made
by any one that there ever was such thing
as the Confederate States "-let alone that
they are still in existence Mr.. Lincoln or
any Of his great Cabinet would have thou
sand times rather cut their hands off than
write such a sentence. They spoke con-
stantly of the "sO-called Southern COnfed-
eracy," but to have officially termed them
the Confederate States" would have been
a fun concession Of the vital principle OF the
rebellion; a concession Of the nationality of
the Confederacy, an admission that the war
was "a war Of conquest" and would have
given France and England the opportunity
they yearned for, 10 recognize the Confed-
eracy as one Of the Nations OF the earth.
The official use Of this term is a full con-
cession of principle upon which the rebels
based theirright TO secede. IL formally recog-
nizes claim which Lincoln and the Union
leaders would never admit for one instant in
any shape or form. This was that the States as
such could make war upon the Government.
The rebels insisted that the States were SOW
ereign and independent-that they could
withdraw from the federation and make war
upon il precisely as any nation can make
war upon another. This was the very cor
ner-stOne of secession. The war for the
preservation of the Nation was based on the
directly-opposite idea. From FIRST to last it
was sternly held by every Union statesman,
General and soldier that the States were as
much an inseparable part of the Nation as a
County, Township. or City. Their ma
chinery was seized by conspirators, and their
names and authority used to promote trea-
sonable designs; but these acts, being in
violation Of the supreme law Of the land,
were void from the first States never
could or did make war upon the Nation /;
il was done in certain States by "cOmbi-
nations too powerful TO be suppressed by
the ordinary course Of judicial proceedings"
to quote President Lincoln's first proclama-
tion.
The war for the preservation Of the Union
was waged in the strictest accordance with
this theory, and the settlement at its con-
clusion made with similar exaetness There
was no peace made with the States, as there
would have been had there been any recog-
milton that they had made, OF could make,
war as States. On the contrary, the men in
arms resisting the authority Of the United
States were forced 10 surrender, the "com-
binations" were broken up and rendered
powerless, and the men assuming TO be
Governors, Legislators and other function
aries Of the States were compelled to desist
from exercising official powers. In no in
stance was any man recognized as having
power TO commit the State to any act of re-
bellion, or 10 conclude peace after war.
AS fast as our armies reached the Capitals
of the so-called Confederate States, the men
who were pretending TO be the Governors,
Legislators and other officials were dispersed
or deposed without ceremony.
Now, % years after these unlawful " com
binations were crushed under the mailed
hand Of Loyalty-after % years Of acqui-
esceDce in this act-there rises up a President
who officially repudiates the entire Union
theory of the war, and indorses that Of the
Secessionists. lie goes still farther and
speaks Of the Confederate States" in the
present tense, as if they still existed, and as i
the present Governments of Virginia, NORTH
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida
Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas
Louisiana and Texas are the legal successor
OF the combinations set up TO resist tn,
authority Of the United States.
Nor does he stop here. The Adjutant
General of the United States Army, actini
under his orders, addresses an official com
munication TO the present Governors of tn
States we have mentioned above which also as
sUmes that they are the legal SUCCESSORS of tn
illegal Governors OF the rebellion period, ant
that those Illegal Governors and Legislature
had the same authority to raise "yoluntee
organizations" TO fight the United State
that the legal Governors Of the 'loyal States
} had 10 organize forces TO support the Gov
3 ernment.
| In passing We confess strong curiosity a
! 10 how the people Of the States which a,
tempted to secede will relish in this year {